


Just a Figment of Your Imagination

by malhagie



Category: Toontown Online
Genre: Annoying Children, Crazy Mom, More tags to be added, cog gears, toon homelessness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-02 17:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 9,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17268440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malhagie/pseuds/malhagie
Summary: I was so young and full of imagination.Speaking of imagination...While me and Dust were racing down the street, I saw something. Or more of someone. It was a tall older green cat. She was standing behind a rectangular flower pot, leaning against the wall. She rested her head on her dark green hoodie with a large J on it. I wouldn't have noticed her if it wasn't for her skirt. It was originally an indigo colored jean skirt, but it had been bleached a turquoise. She was hidden, it seemed. She was leaning on a shop wall in the middle of Oak Street, in broad day light, but she was nearly invisible."Dust," I stopped and scowled at the cat. How could she do that, fade in to the back ground like that."Do you see that cat?" I pointed to her still form."What cat?" Dust stopped his trek and turned to look at me."That cat! The one behind the flower box," I turned to look at my friend feeling confusion sweep over me."Rhubarb, there is no cat. It's just a figment of your imagination," Dust pulled me onward.(another fanfic from the 2011 vault) (unfinished because i got banned from the original website but more chapters will be coming soon)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Link to original story: http://www.mmocentralforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270409&highlight=Swiftblackcat
> 
> Justin Case, Cookie, Magma, and Super Jaguar  
> are not my characters, they were sign ups and I was given permission to use them in this story.

Prologue

 

My best friend Dust had called me earlier, telling me that he was going to take me on a tour of Toontown. I was so excited back then, so sweet and worry free.  
Until that one fateful day.  
I was a maroon cat, or am. I don't feel maroon any more, I feel like dark maroon.  
Dust is a medium sized black cat. He always wore an old stained orange t-shirt and baggy blue shorts. He was me dragging down Oak Street intent that I see 'the pit' before it got to crowded.  
It was sunny and warm. The flowers smiled at the sun, swaying slightly in the breeze and perfuming it with their delicate sent. The music played softly background projected over the loud speakers, but the birdsong over whelmed it.  
I was busy twirling in the shop's windows. I had just gotten a brand-new yellow skirt, and when I twirled it would surround me in my own personal looping sun. My shirt was relatively new too. As a dark purple, it would help me imagine that I lived in a deep colored city, and I was sole explorer. On a mission to find a place for the residents of my doomed to city to live.  
I was so young and full of imagination.  
Speaking of imagination...While me and Dust were racing down the street, I saw something. Or more of someone. It was a tall older green cat. She was standing behind a rectangular flower pot, leaning against the wall. She rested her head on her dark green hoodie with a large J on it. I wouldn't have noticed her if it wasn't for her skirt. It was originally an indigo colored jean skirt, but it had been bleached a turquoise. She was hidden, it seemed. She was leaning on a shop wall in the middle of Oak Street, in broad day light, but she was nearly invisible.  
"Dust," I stopped and scowled at the cat. How could she do that, fade in to the back ground like that.  
"Do you see that cat?" I pointed to her still form.  
"What cat?" Dust stopped his trek and turned to look at me.  
"That cat! The one behind the flower box," I turned to look at my friend feeling confusion sweep over me.  
"Rhubarb, there is no cat. It's just a figment of your imagination," Dust pulled me onward.  
But I didn't want to go to Sellbot HQ, I wanted to see what was with that cat.  
As Dust showed me the dark, ominous, and scarily tall Sellbot towers, the cat faded from my mind.  
Little did I know I would soon see her again.

~Rhubarb

 

Chapter 1

 

"Wow it's so...big!" And scary! And gray!" Rhubarb remarked with horror and a bit of wonderment as she looked up at Sellbot towers.  
"If you think that is scary just wait!" I replied with a mischievous grin. I pulled Rhubarb along with me to the factory entrance.  
"So this goes to the factory, you have to defeat several sets of cogs inside. Inside the warehouse, on the two silos then the Factory Foreman. Then you get your disguise and then go fight the VP," I explained.  
"Wow, have you fought the VP, Dust?" The maroon cat asked me with big eyes.  
"Yeah, a bunch of times. Now I'm going to show you Cashbot HQ. First, we go through Minnie's Melodyland, then Donald's Dreamland."  
"Oh, Minnie's Melodyland! I heard there are giant keyboards on the streets! And the music is the loudest and everything is pink!"

As we were walking down a Melodyland street, Rhubarb humming along to the music rather loudly, she saw something that required her utmost attention.  
Rhubarb can be annoying, but she is only six.  
I chased her down and nearly ran into her when she stopped. She was watching a tan pig wearing a shirt from Doppler's Sound Effects Studio. He was sitting on the curb, playing a hypnotic song on an electric keyboard. The song was so strange, it was like a cogish song but still toony at the same time. It was like a song that could lure a cog, but it still had that toon twang in it.  
After he finished Rhubarb ran up to him saying, "That song was incredible! What do you call it?"  
"Uh.." He looked a bit confused by her sudden outburst, "The Eight Lure, and thanks for the comment."  
"Rhubarb, come on. Don't disturb people," I tried to urge her forward, but she wouldn't budge.  
"What's your name?" She asked the pig.  
"Justin Case,"  
"Cool name! Mine's Rhubarb, I hope we meet again soon!" She said the last over her shoulder as a finally got her to start skipping down the street.

"DUST!" I whipped around at the sound of Rhubarb screaming my name. I had just crossed the train track in Cashbot HQ, and thought she was right behind me, but she must have been dilly-dallying and crossed at the wrong time.  
I sprinted to her aid as the train pulled away and dragged her off the track. I looked at her small laff: most of it was gone and she was starting to turn a sickly green.  
"I wanna go home," She moaned pitifully.  
"Right away, Rhubarb, just stay with me here," I pulled out my teleportation hole and jumped into it, cradling Rhubarb in my arms.

-Dust

***

I was relaxing on Oak Street, just standing against a wall. My headphones where on underneath my hood pumping techno music into my ears. It was nice and sunny, an absolutely beautiful day.  
I began to notice a bit of a crowd gathering nearby and looked up. They were surrounding a short dark green cat who swaying on her feet and singing a gibberish song about our impending doom of our society because of the 'Chairman'.  
My heart skipped a beat.  
My mother.  
My poor, poor mother.  
I ripped my headphones out of my ears and ran up to her. She didn't look so good. Her simple blue dress was wrinkled and stained, and her fur was matted and full of gunk.  
I urged her down the street as quick as I could. Everyone in the road was staring at us. I could feel embarrassment erupting in bright hot red across my cheeks and filling my ears.  
I stopped behind the large flower pot with the tree inside it, we were as hidden as we could get right now.  
"The Key!" My mother picked up a cog gear of the street and shoved it in my face, "This is The Key, the key to our undoing!" Her eyes were wind and sleep-deprived.  
I pulled out my teleportation whole and pushed my mother into it. I took a deep breath before jumping in.  
My poor mother, my poor, poor mother.

=Jade


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I saw black then red, but I never saw a train. I heard it though.  
I was just following Dust then I heard the whistle, it was so loud! It sounded like it was right above me, I guess it was. After that everything suddenly turned black, and I felt a sensation like falling. I think it was when the train hit me and a was thrown to the ground.  
Everything turned red after that, and I remember lots of pain, but it was really fuzzy. Like a TV show with lots of static, or a dream that you can only kind of remember.  
I remember seeing Dust a few times, and I remember that he wouldn't shut up.  
When I woke up my shoulders and back were aching so bad. It felt like I would never move again, and my legs were plastered to whatever I was laying on. My right arm hurt allot to. That was my pie throwing arm.  
I finally looked around. I was in Dust's house, it was very strangely decorated. It was a mixture of space and a jungle, greens and blues. The wall paper was stars and planets, with jungle vine crown molding. I looked down at what I was laying on, it was one of those twiggy stick bed frames with astronaut sheets.  
I let out a small moan and Dust shot the room.   
"Your awake!" He hugged me, but a winced when he touched my shoulders. "I made an appointment at the hospital. They said that a getting hit by a train wasn't worth a trip to the emergency room, but I should still bring you in."  
"But I can't walk!!"  
"Yes you can, you walked inside and to the bed. You probably don't remember it, you were pretty fuzzy for a while," Dust helped me out of bed and onto me feet. I could walk easily, but my lower back and legs hurt.  
"Do you think you can stand teleportation?"  
"Maybe," I bit my lip, teleportation was pretty rough. You got sucked down a hole then thrown out again on the other side, "Yes, I think I can."  
Dust pulled out his teleportation hole and set it on the ground. I slowly scooted in, following his lead. We popped out relatively gently, but it still hurt my back and I had to lean on Dust.   
I looked up, we were at the main entrance of the large hospital.

~Rhubarb

***

When we arrived at my mother's estate, I rushed into her house.   
It was better than I had expected. Stuff was clean, and relatively tidy.   
The yellow walls were a bit faded, a large pile of cog gears were randomly sitting on the coffee table, and a curtain rod had fallen off its bracket. The whole house needed a major dusting. Besides this it was better than I had expected.  
I turned off my mp3 player and turned around when my mother entered.  
"Jade Green! You came home!" She had a happily shocked expression on her face as she stopped in the door way.  
Guilt bubbled up into my face.  
"No mother, do you know why I'm here?"  
"Oh… I thought you had come home. I was just on my way home from the grocer's store...Oh! How did I get home so fast? Time must fly when you’re having fun." My mom smiled up at me.  
Yes, she smiled up at me, I'm about a foot taller than her.  
Her comment made me force a smile, but she hadn't remembered her episode.  
"Well as long as your here let's have some lunch!" She walked into the kitchen and began to get out the fixings for tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  
As she pulled out a pan, she must have gotten a look at her paw because she said, "Oh my, I need to wash my hands." She glanced down at herself and let out a small gasp. She looked at me and gave a nervous chuckle, "I'm going to go get cleaned up." She hurried off to her bedroom and shut the door tightly.   
This was my chance. After I was sure Mother was in the bathroom adjacent to her room I walked up to my room and turned the knob.  
It didn't budge. I tried again jiggling the knob and turning it in both directions. It confirmed it, the door was locked.  
I studied the knob and soon found the key. A cog gear, about a size three one.  
'The Key'.  
I grabbed a gear off the coffee table and shoved it in the lock. It clicked open. I wonder why my door was locked.  
The pastel blue door swung open reviling the thick yellow carpeting that furnished the room. I didn't step it, I just peaked it.  
The room was exactly how I had left it when I left. My bed with the green covers were sloppily made. The desk chair was upside down, my old game systems were spread across the floor. My track award was still in its place on the forest green splatter painted walls. My closet was open with my old track shoes shoved into the bottom.  
I heard my mother start to walk across her bedroom floor and quickly shut the door to mine. I locked it again and placed the gear back on the table, exactly where it was before.   
"Hello Sweetie!" Mother hummed a tune similar to the one she was singing earlier. She walked into the kitchen, in fresh clothes and washed fur, and started making grilled cheese sandwiches. I sat down on the purple couch. It looked like an elephant had slept on it, it was so squished. I stared at the pile of cog gears, trying to understand what had done this to my mother.  
She used to be perfectly normal when I was younger, until four years ago.  
Me, her, and my since disappeared father had been exploring the recently found Bossbot HQ.  
We were inside a golf course, and were trying to find our way out. We must have taken a wrong turn, because the path opened to large grey rolling hills.  
I remember that a cog golf ball had been hit into the bushes near by us. I was so surprised that I screamed. The cogs who were playing golf at the time found us.  
That was before we knew that when you defeat a v2.0 cog, that you then must defeat their skeleton. My parents bombarded the cogs with pies and we took off running.  
None of us expected it when a large roll of red tape engulfed us, and several Skelecogs hauled us away.   
I don't remember exactly what happened, but I we were split up.  
I escaped by literally squeezing through the bars of my jail cell. About a month of hiding in the country club I found my way out. I returned to an HQ to find that we had been pronounced missing.  
I had to live on my own, on the streets. About six months later someone contacted me and told me that my mother had been rescued.   
I moved back in with her, but soon ran away.  
All that time in Bossbot HQ had changed her. She began to have these strange episodes where she would foretell about the collapse of toon society.  
My father had never again shown up, and I managed to sneak into an HQ. I found all the records about my family in a fill just marked 'Gone'. That was all it said, several other toons files were in there too. The last entries to their records were all similar. Some shopkeepers shop had been taken over by cogs, and when his building was rescued, he never showed up. There was a record of someone reported missing; a random toon had found her a year later. That was it for her, no more entries, just the record of someone finding her.  
I tried to track these people down, but I never found them. Well I haven't found them yet.  
I had lived on the streets for the last three years of my life. I had run into my mother a few times, and each time the episodes had gotten worse and worse. Now she talked about how cog gears were 'The Key'.  
"Lunch time!" Mother chirped and brought out our lunch.

=Jade


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After we had finished eating, I excused myself and left the house. I couldn't stand it in there any more, it felt like a box closing in on me.  
Once I was out the door, I shot down the street and hid behind a shop, out of view of my old house. I was sure, as sure as the sun would rise the next day, that my mother would never leave that house until she absolutely had to. And I was definitely wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't know it at the time.  
I stood with my back against the wall just catching my breath for a few moments. A jog as short as that is not enough to wind me, but being inside that house, it brought my panicky side out.  
I turned around to take a short cut through the neighbor’s yard and received the shock of my life.  
My mother had followed me.  
She had followed me out of the house and half way down the street.  
I didn't know what to do, and I panicked. I went from a cool, calm, collected person to a jumpy, irrational, bag of nerves.  
I did possibly the stupidest thing I could have done, I sprinted as fast as I could as far away as I could.

=Jade

***

When we went to the hospital Dust went to the counter and told me to sit down in one of the many blue seats lining the walls.  
As Dust talked to the receptionist, I looked around.  
The carpet was forest green with browns and red running through it. The white washed walls were so bright that looking at them too long gave me a headache. The waiting room spanned off in one direction and stopped abruptly at glass double doors. Into the distance behind the glassy hallway floors seemed to spread forever into the distance, the rectangular fluorescent light's reflections glowing on the floor.  
Dust walked back up to me, "They're going to take x-rays of you back and arm. Come on." He helped me up and brought me to a waiting nurse. She was in a uniform that matched the hallway, and she pulled out a wheelchair for me.  
I sat down in it but had to lean forward because the back hurt my shoulders. The nurse pushed me down the glowing hallways.   
I couldn't help but imagine that I was captured by the evil Ivory Menace who lives off whiteness. I was being taken to the main color draining room where Ivory Menace would drain all the color out of me and turn me into one of his minions. I had to escape and save all the color in the world.  
The nurse wheeled me down an adjacent hallway and into a room with something about x-rays written on it.  
She left me in another waiting room area, with a few chairs in it. A bed was parked next to a wall and a black cat laying on it.  
"Hi!"  
"Oh, Hello," She looked over at me. "Why are you here?"  
"I was hit by a train in Cashbot HQ, and my friend thinks I may be hurt bad. My name is Rhubarb, what's yours?" I smiled at her happily.  
"Cookie, those trains can be really unforgiving." She looked down at me with an unreadable expression.  
"What happened to you?"   
When I asked my question, Cookie seemed a bit amused and replied with a bit of cheer in her voice, "I fell off a cliff and broke my back, hopefully I can go home and get out of this stupid thing soon." She referred to the large brace she had strapped on over her mini sweat shirt.  
"Well good luck!" I couldn’t talk to her anymore because the nurse came out and wheeled me into another room.  
The next room had a bunch of large, weird machines in it. The nurse helped me onto a platform and put a heavy poncho thing on me. It hurt my shoulders too much, and she had me lay down. Then she put my arm on a shelf thing next to one of the machines, told me to stay still, and left. The machine buzzed to life and made a humming sound. The nurse came back in and had me lay on my stomach to do the same thing they did to my arm to my back. This went on for a bit, but they eventually quit.  
I was brought out into the room I was in before. Cookie was still inside and was playing on a video game system. Dust was in the room to!  
"How was it?" He asked  
"Boring, all the things did was make a bunch of humming noises. I don't see how those things see into your body."  
Cookie was taken into the x-ray room, and I waved to her as she went in. She waved back.

~Rhubarb


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I did stop running extremely soon.  
My mother took off after me, and kind of ran somebody over.  
I was almost far enough away to be able to keep on running and not care. I was about ten feet away.  
I heard somebody yell, "Hey! Watch it!" I turn around to see Mother run into a red cat, and he was not happy to see her.  
"What's wrong with you?!" I demand of him, backing up my mother, "You just through a defenseless person to the ground just because they happen to run into you?"  
"You should watch your manners little girl, and you need to watch where you’re going!" The red cat snarled at me, and I snarl back. He had an eye patch over one eye, a black shirt made of some type of sporty material, and blue jeans that looked a bit new.  
"I am far from a little girl," We parted ways, his black boots clomping down the street, my bare feet not making a sound.  
I walked with my mother down the street, I was sure to make two right turns, to make the general direction in which we were heading the way to her estate.  
At the last corner before the house, I turned to my mother. She smiled up at me and asked with innocence, "Where are we going next? That was so much fun!"  
Fun?  
Fun?!  
In what twisted world was that fun? I was worried out of my mind that she would do something crazy!  
I was on the edge of yelling a mean retort, but I was cut off by the loud speaker. The calming music that usually plays, crackled away into and invasion announcement, a Big Cheeses invasion.  
I looked away from the loud speaker back to my mother, "Listen Mother, you need to go home."  
"But I'd rather stay with you!"  
"Mom, you can't stay. It's-it's it can get dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt," I added, "Again," in my mind. "Just go home."  
She looked a bit dejected, then saw something behind me and brightened up. "The Key!" She screamed and pushed me into a battle against four Big Cheese, that the noobs who were fighting had just ran from.  
I cursed, I was low on gags. But Mother was watching, I couldn't just bail.  
I had already used up most of my throw, lure, and sound. I was down to squirt and drop.   
The battle didn't start off well, one of my last two lures missed, and one of the Cheeses dodged my safe.  
Then life took one of its unpredictable turns, and the cat who Mother had ran into earlier turned the corner. He looked mildly insulted when he saw me. He must have taken pity for me though and joined the battle.  
He was a fantastic fighter.  
After the battle was over I picked up the large cog gears littering the street, and shoved a handful at my mother, "You've got your gears, now GO HOME!"  
She looked at me lovingly and said one of the worst possible thing she could say, "You're father would be proud."  
That. Was. It.  
I didn't run, I was too much of a coward to run. I pulled out my underused teleportation hole and dove in.  
As I entered the stretching darkness, I heard someone yell, "Wait!" And something wrap around my ankle.

=Jade

***

The nurse wheeled me into a checkup room, Dust following behind us.  
Me and Dust talked for a while, until the doctor came in. He was a tall brown dog in a long lab coat.  
"And you must be Rhubarb," He smiled down at me with his large teeth, they reminded me of a Mr. Hollywood.  
"Yup!"   
"I heard that you were hit by one of the trains that go through Cashbot HQ."  
"Yeah," I sure hoped I wouldn't get another lecture about how I should be more careful around cogs until I became a more powerful toon.  
"You need to be more careful," He was. "High level cogs can be very dangerous to low level toons like you. Places like HQs, and Donald's Dreamland, are places that you should not in unless you have someone advance there to help you" He would have insulted me less if he had called me a noob.   
I wasn't in a good mood, my shoulders still hurt allot, the bright lights were hurting my eyes and the back of my head throb, and on top of that my hand was starting to ache! I just wanted the guy to fix me and get out of here, so I played the blame game. "Dust was the one that took me to Cashbot HQ!"  
But the doctor wouldn't listen to me! Instead he talked to Dust then put this thing on my wrist. He gave me this red pill that was supposed to make my shoulders feel better, but it didn't work!  
After that we were finally able to leave.   
As we were walking down the hallway to leave someone called my name, "Hey Rhubarb!"  
I turned around to see Cookie, the black cat I had seen earlier, in a wheelchair speeding down the hall towards me, "Rhubarb, I'm being released! I can finally get out of this place!"  
"That's great! Can I ride on your wheelchair?"  
Cookie thought about it a bit, smoothing her mini skirt, "Sure, hop on kid."  
We zoomed down the hall, the exit getting bigger and bigger, Dust running along beside us. Once out the first set of doors Cookie stood up out of her wheelchair and stretched her back.  
"That was fun Cookie, you’re really cool!" Dust said, "We're gonna go get some ice cream wanna come?"  
"We're getting ice cream?" I asked happily surprised.  
"Yes," Dust nodded happily.  
Cookie giggled, "Sure, I'll come."

~Rhubarb


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

After we left the hospital, we walked to the ice cream parlor. Cookie pointed out a short cut to take, and Rhubarb ran around a lot. The pain medicine that the doctor gave her must have worked, because she wouldn’t sit still.  
I had vanilla ice cream, Rhubarb had cherry, and Cookie had cookie dough.  
As we were eating, I told Rhubarb more about the cog HQs. I began to tell her about how the floor in Lawbot HQ was shiny, but Cookie giggled interrupting me.  
“The floor isn’t shiny, it’s reflective. The Lawbots must spend hours waxing it.” She corrected me.  
“The Lawbots wax the floor?” Rhubarb asked turning to the older cat.  
“Supposedly,” Cookie nodded to herself, “How else would the floors get so reflective?”  
“Wow,” Rhubarb took another lick off her ice cream.  
“Did you know that there is a manhole cover in each HQ?” I gritted my teeth, I was going to tell Rhubarb that, and now Cookie had spoiled it!  
“Really?”  
“Yes,” She must have noticed my anger and said, “Maybe Dust can show you them sometime.”  
The rest of the conversation went well.  
After we had finished Rhubarb asked me to take her to the Brrrgh and Lawbot HQ. But before we could leave Rhubarb had to ask Cookie something and ran off to her.  
When I caught up to her I heard her ask the black cat if she would be her friend. Cookie accepted and we were soon on our way to the Brrrgh.

-Dust

***

As I landed the Daisy Gardens Playground I whipped around to see what had grabbed my foot.  
Most people would have been surprised.  
It was that red cat, he had dived in after me.  
“What the heck! Why did you follow me?!” I demanded of him, not really sure how I should react.  
He looked a bit nervous and fiddled with his glove a bit before answering, “Because I didn’t want to be left on the street with that crazy green cat.”  
“Which one?”  
He was not amused with my response.   
“I was going to help you, but I don’t think so any more,” He turned away and began walking towards the nearest tunnel.  
“Help me with what?” I asked. I didn’t know what he was getting at, but I had a feeling that he would help me with whatever I wanted, and that his records would be in the same place as mine.  
“This whole thing you’re doing, you must be on to something!”  
I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.  
“I mean you listen to that green cat you were defending earlier, she found something out about the cogs. You hang out with her to figure out why she’s so crazy, and why she babbles about the cogs. That’s commitment!”  
I was not amused by his response.  
“That crazy cat is my mother,” I turned away, anger bubbling up inside me for no reason.  
“I’m sorry,” I heard him mumble, “But-”  
“BUT WHAT?” I whipped around ready to lash out.  
“Would you like my help?” He asked more as if he was answering a question than asking one.  
“I guess,” I called down enough to shake his thickly gloved hand, “Name’s Jade Green.”  
“Magma.”

=Jade

***

“Come on lets got through the Docks,” Dust led, more of dragged me down Punchline Place.  
I was excited to see the Brrrgh. I had heard that it snows all the time, and there was great ice skating!

~Rhubarb


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

Donald’s Dock was more fun than I thought it would be. Everything was wooden and painted in greens and reds that blended into the wood behind them. The streets were actual docks floating on the water. The entire neighborhood rocked with the waves, and salty sea water sloshing through the cracks in the wood.  
Each building was on its own independent section of a dock so everything was bobbing around without any rhyme or reason.  
I don’t know how the toons that lived there stand it, always rocking and swaying, the ground not solid under your feet. Even the Cog buildings rocket heavily, the metal structures sinking low on their floating foundations.  
I just hoped we would get to The Brrrgh before it got dark.

~Rhubarb

***

After we introduced each other I made the excuse that I was going to go home and get a good night’s sleep.  
Yeah, right.  
What I was really going to do was find some new clothes, my sweat shirt was getting a bit small.  
I headed out to the Dock hoping I could find some nice clothes and an empty building with running water, I needed to shower too.  
Seaweed street was successful, in the dumpster behind Mermaid Swimwear I found a cute unused turquoise skirt from Toontown Central, and I made a lucky discovery.  
A short orange cat with a red shirt stained with grease from cogs stumbled out of a two story cog building that crumbled away into oblivion, the old toony building emerging underneath.  
He was panting hard and pulled out his Shticker to check something. He closed his book and pulled out his teleportation hole.   
In the exact second before he threw the hole on the ground he turned and looked at me, “Jade Green?”  
“Super Jaguar?” I asked walking over.  
“Yeah, long time no see,” We walked up to each other and looked each other up and down. He was as short as ever and looked like he’d been doing building all day long. He was covered in grease stains and had a gear stuck in the fur next to his ear.  
I wonder what he noticed about me.  
“Whatcha been up to recently?”  
“Apparently I’m trying to figure out what the crazy green lady babbles about and why,” I said my anger still fresh on my mind.  
“Ooo,” He was one of the few people who knew what happened to my mother.  
“And I’m trying to find an empty building with running water.”  
“I think I can help you with that,” He Jaguar said racking his brain, “I think there’s a good one on Lighthouse Lane, you know the street that leads to The Brrrgh?”  
“Yeah, I think I know. Thanks for the help Super Jaguar!” I called over my shoulder as I started down the street.  
“Hey were still friends, right?” He yelled  
“Yeah were still friends! I can’t forget what you did for me all those years ago!”

=Jade

***

We finally got to the playground and hopped on the boat to take us across pond to the entrance to Lighthouse Lane.   
Although it wouldn’t be too bad to be in The Brrrgh at night, the ice-skating would be even cooler.  
We made good time, Rhubarb not dilly-dallying too much. But all of a sudden she stopped right in her tracks.  
“Dust..” She squeezed my arm, “It’s that cat.”  
“What cat?” I asked hopping she wasn’t talking about the one she saw in the Garden’s earlier.  
“The one that was in Daisy Gardens.”  
I got a bit freaked out and whipped around looking for the supposed cat, but she didn’t show!  
Rhubarb was probably just imagining things again.  
Or maybe not. 

-Dust


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

I found a nice empty building with running water. I smelled a bit strange though, like cupcakes and desperation.  
I was about to take a shower, but then I realized something. If I was going to take a shower to get clean, why would I put on dirty clothes?   
I was just not thinking that day.  
I needed a new jacket, desperately; this one was getting too small too fast.  
The Brrrgh was always a good place to find a jacket; toons were always switching them out because of the always changing temperatures ranging from chilly to freezing.  
What a bunch of crybabies, you pick a jacket, and stick with it!  
Instead of going back on the street, like a normal toon, I took the roof. I climbed up the stairs behind the counter, completely ignoring the second floor, and headed up to the attic.  
I found the door to the roof, climbed out, and surveyed my surroundings.  
There was a quick short cut to the tunnel, the only problem was that it went over a cog building.  
A cog building, those were terrible to bare feet, I of course went over it any way.

=Jade

***

“Come on Rhubarb,” I ripped her from the spot, I didn’t know if I was trying to get away from that cat for my sake or her’s. “We need to get to the Brrrgh before it gets to dark, or the ice-skating rinks will be closed!”  
I got her to budge and we shot down the street and before I knew it we were in the Brrrgh.  
“Wow,” Rhubarb spun around in the snow, letting it gather on her loosely gloved hands.  
Rhubarb is so cute, she always she’s the sunny side of things, and helps me see them too.  
Her favorite quote is: “The grass may be greener on the other side, but at least it’s quiet over here.”  
So sweet.  
“Come on Rhubarb, let’s go rent some ice-skates!” We hurried off to the playground. I was suddenly full of happiness, I even offered to pay the charge for Rhubarb’s skates.  
Wow, I sure was happy.  
After we got the skates we decided to check out some of the smaller rinks in the streets, and the streets themselves.

-Dust

***

Once in the Brrrgh I dropped down to the streets. Roofs were always dangerous, but even more so in the Brrrgh. The ice could trip you up, sending you crashing into the streets below, or the roof could give out with the extra weight.  
I started down the street, looking for open dumpsters, lost clothing, and just random piles of litter.  
Sometimes I really hate this place, especially the Brrrgh.  
I was sneaking down an slowly shrinking alleyway when I heard something that drew me to its source better than a Presentation on a Flunky.  
It was this techno rhythm with a nearly coggish tune to it.  
I just love techno.  
The songs source was a tall tan pig with an electric keyboard. “Whoa,” I said down to him.  
By the way he looked up at me I could tell he wasn’t happy to see me. The expression on his face betrayed his thoughts: “GO AWAY, now please.”  
So I asked the one question I could think up in less than two seconds that would get him thinking.  
“Where in the world did you get the inspiration for that song?” It did get him thinking.  
“Unhappy cogs,” he answered after a second of thought.  
Hmm, well that is an answer.  
I heard a happy gash behind me. Then the sound of a little girl shrieking “Justin Case!” which must have been the brown pigs name.   
A small maroon cat skated up on uneasy ankles, smiling up to the confused pig. Suddenly she turned at me and screamed.

=Jade


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When someone screams in your face your first reaction usually isn’t that calm, mine sure wasn’t. I jumped back a few feet then glanced at the pig; he was surprised by her sudden outburst too.  
I would have been able to possibly do something smart, but she just kept screaming, and screaming.  
So I did something stupid and backed away. As I was edging to the nearest corner a black cat skated up to the maroon screaming one. Her tried to calm her, then glanced up at me.  
The look of horror on his face made me turn around and bolt.  
I don’t know why I ran I just did. I was getting out of the Brrrgh.  
As I turned a corner, I collided with someone and was knocked back on to my bottom. Once I recovered, I looked up to see an orange cat carefully picking himself up off the icy streets.  
“Super Jaguar?”   
“I was not following you!” Wow, he sure is a good liar. I just gave him my “you’ve got to be kidding me” look.  
“I got you something for your birthday!” He rocked back and forth on his heals and toes.  
“Um…My birthday was-,” before I could finish my sentence, he pulled out a forest green leather jacket and handed it to me.  
I gaped at it, “Thanks buddy!” I hugged the short cat around the shoulders.  
“Oh you’re welcome,”  
“You didn’t have to do this for me! Mickey knows I don’t deserve it,”  
“Oh come on Jade, you couldn’t have done that much damage to society,”  
“Wanna bet? I think I just made a little kid cry,” That statement made Super Jaguar give me his “you’ve got to be kidding me” look.  
“Well, have fun with whatever you do. Bye Jade!” I bit farewell to the nice cat and returned to Donald’s Dock to finally take a much-needed shower.

=Jade

***

When I heard Rhubarb scream I thought she had fallen. I rushed over to comfort her. She looked freaked out and when I looked up the reason why was like a slap in the face.  
It was that cat that kept appearing.  
So she did exist, then why was she so scary?  
I mean she was just a random cat that Rhubarb had seen three times today.  
But she still had an explanation to her. Why did she run away when she saw me? She was still a mystery, and for some reason she made me worried for Rhubarb's safety.   
So, when a red cat with an eye patch was asking around if anybody had seen a tall green cat with a sweatshirt, I happily told him where she went.   
He thanked me and hurried down the street his black boots clomping.  
I turned to Justin a determined expression on my face, and he asked me something that I made me reconsider, “Why did you tell him where she went?”  
“What?” Rhubarb said innocently, looking between us.  
“Why did you tell that cat where the green one went? He could be a very dangerous criminal out to get her. Why didn’t you think a teeny bit first?”  
“Uh…,” His question stopped me, why did I do that?  
“Can we go home?” Rhubarb asked suddenly looking tired. Who wouldn’t be, I guess. She had had a long day.  
“Sure,” I pulled out the teleportation hole.  
Before we entered Rhubarb turned to Justin, “Your music is really great Justin, I love it!”  
Neither of us couldn’t help but smile at her sweetness.  
I wasn’t exactly going home though. I needed to ask somebody about what just happened, and I knew none of my friends would be any help.   
So, I went to Cookie. She was a lot older than me and would probably know what to do.

-Dust


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Cookie!” I yelled as I jumped out of the teleportation hole. We had landed in some Toontown Central street, toons and cogs swarming everywhere.  
“What?! What’s wrong?” She whipped around tense and ready to fight.  
“I need your advice with something,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets.  
“Hey, I thought we were going home!” Rhubarb stamped her foot in agitation her usually smiling face twisted in anger.  
“Sorry Rhubarb, I just wanted to talk to Cookie real quick,” I said shuffling my feet and shoving my hands deeper into my pockets.  
“Well, you do that then, I’m going home,” And with that she pulled out her teleportation hole and jumped in. I turned to look at Cookie, she just shrugged, “So what do you want to talk about?”  
I sighed then began, “While me and Rhubarb were skating in the Brrrgh we saw something that kind of scared us. It was this tall green cat that we had seen twice before. Rhubarb screamed when she saw the cat, and when I looked at her the cat ran away, like she was trying to hide something. Then a bit later some strange guy with an eye-patch came by us looking for her, and... I told him where she went.”  
Cookie just gave me a confused look.  
“Let me get this straight, you freaked out over a cat that ran away from you and another guy who had an eye-patch? And Mr. Eye-Patch was looking for her?”  
I nodded solemnly.  
“You’re over reacting, the guy with the eye-patch could have been her brother for all we know, it’s not that big of a deal,” Cookie looked down at me, and sighed through her nose.  
“But what about the green cat running away?”  
“Rhubarb did scream, and I bet your expression when you saw her wasn’t exactly friendly. She probably just panicked; you have to think about this from her point of view.”  
I nodded again. Cookie was right, I was just over reacting. I deiced to leave the whole thing behind me, the past was the past.

-Dust

***

My new clothes fit well. The green leather jacket was a good length and wasn’t tight around my shoulders, like most jackets are, and was relatively warm too. The skirt was well made and durable, it was also a good length. The white tank top I had on under the jacket completed the look.  
Thirty seconds later I got received another large shock.  
The red cat form of Magma was sitting on the counter, reading something.  
“What are you doing here?” I asked a surprised that he had found me.  
“Waiting for you, obviously. After we parted ways, I realized that if you were really going home you would have walked in the other direction, towards the house that you had just fled from.” Wow, he was one smart little devil.  
“Well, why were you waiting for me?” I asked a bit awkwardly.  
“To give you this,” He stood up, walked over and handed me a small note.  
“What’s this?” I asked as he left. But he must have not heard me, or was ignoring me, because the door closed without an answer.  
I shrugged and when back up to the second story of the building. The second story in most of these shops was the housing area where the owner slept. I picked a random room, with a good bed, and settled in to read the note.  
It was shocking.

=Jade

***

Who cares about Dust anyway? He was the one who started this whole thing, dragging me off the cog HQs and such. I didn’t really want to go anyway, I would have been happy just walking through Toontown Central Playground. But NO! He had to take me; he said I had to be educated. Don’t I do that enough in school?  
I was tired of Dust and running around all the time. Tomorrow I would work on my Toontasks and make some new friends.   
But now it was bedtime.

~Rhubarb


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 

I want to say that I read the note before I went to sleep, but I didn’t. With the way the letter was folded I opened it up and only saw one sentence, “Before you read the rest of this, get some sleep.”  
So I did.  
When I woke up, I immediately read the note, and screamed at the top of my lungs. I read it again and screamed even louder.  
I had never run so fast. I sprinted to Toontown Central, the note clutched in my thinly gloved hand. I barley new I was running all I was thinking about was getting to the pavilion as soon as possible.  
I whipped around corners and slammed through groups of loitering toons. As I sprinted through the short cut on Punchline Place, I smashed into someone, I didn’t even look to see who it was I just kept on running.

=Jade

***

When I woke up, I jumped out of bed and smiled my room. I was ready to tackle the day. I was going to go to the playground, fight some cogs, make a few friends, and get some more frames of my toon-up gag track.  
I hurried to the bustling playground full of toons running around, some to the trolley, some to the streets, some to the HQ, and some just randomly.  
It seemed as if I was the only one standing still and not asleep on my feet.  
I slowly proceeded to the farthest tunnel, taking in everything around me. Barely noticeable but noticing everything. It was so cool.  
When I finally got to Punchline Place I began my search for Cashbots.  
I walked purposefully through my search not going that well, every time I found a cog I was looking for, four people were already engaged in battle with it or it was nearly destroyed so by the time I was able to get in the cog was reduced to a pile of gears.  
I deiced to go to the end of the street not so many people would be there, hopefully.   
I took the short cut of course. As I hurried through someone slammed into me, and they didn’t even say sorry! They just kept on running. I picked myself up and turned to give the fleeing toon a piece of my mind, and a shock hit me. The person who had run into me was that green cat! The one from yesterday who kept appearing.   
She sure did look like she was in a hurry. And she had dropped something.  
I bent over to pick the white scrap of paper up and discovered that it was a letter written in scribbled handwriting.   
I began to read it the first line said:

_Before you read the rest of this, get some sleep._

~Rhubarb

***

After I woke from a deep dreamless slumber I hurried over to Rhubarb’s Estate to pick her up, and was frightened when I realized that she wasn’t there!   
“Rhubarb!” I called, “RHUBARB where are you!!”  
“Shut up, you stupid cat! She left earlier this morning!” Her neighbor Rock shouted from his house.  
Oh, okay, she was probably in Toontown Central working on her toontasks. I set off to meet her by the gag shop; she had to show up there sooner or later.

-Dust

***

Even though I was in a crowded playground filled with toons who lazily looked over the site I saw, none of felt the terror that I did.  
Well maybe except for two toons. Super Jaguar and Magma were standing in the between the Town Hall and the Library, a short sea green cat in between them.  
I stood rooted in my spot for a second taking it in and trying to calm down.  
I still can’t believe I didn’t run when Jaguar called me over.

=Jade


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“What are you doing here!” I hissed angrily through clenched teeth down at Super Jaguar.  
“I was waiting for you to tell you that this guy tried to break into your house!” Jaguar said a bit too loudly pointing furiously at Magma.  
“No I wasn’t! I was looking for her!” Magma defended himself and pointed to my mother.   
She just giggled happily. “It’s so great that you made some friends, Jade,” she beamed up at me blissfully unaware of my slowly growing furry.  
“Yes it is mother," I turned back to the red cat, “Why ARE we here? And what was with that note? That couldn’t have possibly been just to scare me.”  
“It wasn’t, this is serious. Where is the note anyway?”  
“The note?” I asked in a clueless way, and then checked my hand. It wasn’t there! I franticly checked all my pockets looking for it.  
“You lost the note!?!” Magma yelled a bit too loudly.  
“No…Yes.” I admitted defeat. That was one of the small list of things that I was responsible and I had lost it.  
“Guys? Let’s get out of here, one too many people are watching.” Super Jaguar said, prodding Magma in the shoulder.  
I glanced around; a few people were watching us. Most of them doing it not so secretly.  
“Come on,” I said grabbing my mother by the wrist and hauling her off the pavilion and into the bushes behind the Town Hall. Magma and Jaguar pushed through the thick branches behind me.  
“Why are we in a shrub?” Jaguar asked pitifully sitting down.  
“Keep your voice down! Were in here to discuss the letter,” Magma turned to me “Now Jade what was your reaction when you read the letter?”  
“Horror.”  
“Ugh, that’s not what I meant! What did you think of the plan?”  
“I thought it was absolutely crazy, and I was insulted by you even suggesting it.”  
Magma sighed slumping. I guess I had let him down. He was just curios, and smart too, to be able to come up with that plan. But I would have absolutely no part of it. The fact that he had tried to drag my mother into this too absolutely eliminated all his chances.  
“What plan?” Super Jaguar asked completely clueless. 

=Jade

***

That didn’t make any sense. I read the first sentence again.

_Before you read the rest of this, get some sleep._

My eyes were not deceiving me, that’s exactly what it said, huh.

_Dear Jade Green,_

That must be the green cat’s name! Jade Green, it really fits her. It sounds like the name of some sort of dangerous secret agent person.

_It is very important that you do not let anyone else read this note, this is TOP SECRET._

Oh. Maybe I should just return it to her and forget this whole thing. I remember what Dust said, “Keep your business to yourself, and other people’s to theirs.”  
Humph! Dust. He was always treating me like a baby. Always pushing me around and telling me what to do. Well not anymore!  
But what about the note?  
It did say not to let other people read it. Okay then, I would listen to the note, but not Dust.  
I slowly started down the street, and then broke out into a run, I didn’t want to miss the green cat, I mean Jade.

~Rhubarb

***

I choose a nice shady place next to the gag shop and sat down to wait. Rhubarb would show up soon, and I would be here to meet her.  
As I waited, I noticed some commotion going on the pavilion. It sounded like a fight; I didn’t want to miss this!  
I hurried over telling myself that it I would only take a peak, and that Rhubarb had to go in then out of the gag shop.  
I pushed through the crowd and saw it was the green cat! She was yelling at a red cat with an eye patch. The one that was asking about the green cat in the Brrrgh!  
They were really yelling at each other, right in the middle of Toontown Central too!  
They must have noticed that they were attracting a crowd because the tall green cat pulled the shorter sea green one next to her into the bushes. Then the red one followed.  
As the crowd started to fade away and go back to their stupid conversations, I stayed rooted to the spot. I didn’t know what to do. Should I wait for Rhubarb, my best friend, or finally figure out what was with the green cat?  
After I good minute of thought, I made up my mind. Rhubarb could wait, she did live next to me, and she was on my friends list.  
I dove strait into the bushes. 

-Dust


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

Before I could spill the plan to Super Jaguar something collided into me, squishing me into the ground.   
I don’t exactly remember what happened next. I never really got a good view of it. All that I really know is that someone and jumped on top of me and whoever it was got into some sort of crazy scuffle with Super Jaguar and Magma.  
They were eventually able to pull the intruder off of me and hold him against the ground.  
I pulled myself up to look at him and was slightly surprised when I saw who it was.  
Surprised in an evil way.  
It was that strangle little boy that had greeted me with a reaction of horror yesterday in the Brrrgh.  
“It’s you!!” The black cat screamed into my face, “You’re the green cat!”  
“Yes of course, I’m a green cat! Why do you keep following me!?”  
“I’m not following you!”  
“Then why are you in the bushes? Why did you jump on me like that?”  
“Because, I…uh…was curious?” The black cat said rather dumbly.  
Jaguar, who had been holding him down, let out an exasperated sigh. Frankly, he just stated what I was just thinking.  
We kind of just sat there for a second until we realized that Magma and my mother had disappeared. Jaguar and I looked around a bit, but it was no use. The playground was completely full, so it would be near impossible to find somebody that didn’t want to be found.  
I became seriously angry, in any situation what so ever, it was never nice to run off with someone’s mother.

=Jade


	13. Chapter 13

When I got to the playground all my hopes of finding the green cat were crushed. The place seemed like it was exceeding maximum occupancy!   
Toons were everywhere, there was no possible way I would find someone that didn’t want to be found in this mess!  
I trudged over to a bench, my day suddenly ruined, and plopped down on it.   
I sighed and looked around; the world just seemed to rush. There didn’t really seem like there was a reason to stand back up, and if there was I didn’t look for it.  
But I did look at the letter.  
A gust of wind nearly blew it out of my hand, so I closed my fist tighter and brought it up to rest in my lap.  
Curiosity got the better of me and I opened it.  
  
_Before you read the rest of this, get some sleep._  
  
_Dear Jade Green,_  
 _It is very important that you do not let anyone else read this note, this is TOP SECRET._  
 _I have a plan to figure out why your mother keeps rambling on about this cog gear key._  
  
Her mother?   
  
_If we could basically stimulate or help her remember what happened in Bossbot HQ._  
 _Maybe she saw some project of the Cogs that uses gears as the key, or_  
 _she escaped using a cog gear to pick the lock._  
  
After that sentence the paper was all crinkled like someone had crumpled it.  
  
_Basically what I’m saying is that we get her to revile what she learned in Bossbot HQ. It would be hard, but I think we can do it._  
 _We could also possibly see if there was anything locked away in your mind too._  
  
That sounded kind of evil.  
  
_Tell me what you think._  
 _Meet today in the Toontown Central Playground, on the pavilion._  
  
_Sincerely,_  
 _A Friend_  
  
I reread the letter, I guess it was a good idea, but it sounded like Jade could be insulted easily.  
Before I could do anything else someone ran up to me and ripped the paper out of my paws. I looked up to see that it was the red cat who was asking were Jade was yesterday  
“How did you get this?!” He demanded.  
“Uh…J-jade dropped it,” I sputtered very confused  
“She dropped it?!”  
“Yes, when she ran into me!” I cried wondering why the cat with the eye patch had to yell so much.  
He muttered something under his breath.  
“Come on,” he said pulling me off the bench and down Silly Street.  
  
~Rhubarb


End file.
